


A Winter's Evening Visit

by Spybaby47



Series: The Baby Vampire Chronicles [1]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Children, F/M, Family, Other, Parent-Child Relationship, Running Away, relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 06:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2762714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spybaby47/pseuds/Spybaby47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The New Year's Eve after Marnie and the witches cause trouble in Bon Temps, Sookie finds herself welcoming an unexpected vampire visitor. Post-season 4. Nan Flanagan never came to see Bill and Eric so the season 5 storyline never happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Winter's Evening Visit

Christmas and New Year’s Eve was shaping up to be a quiet affair in Bon Temps. After Marnie’s death on Halloween night, the coven she had assembled scattered and returned to their daily lives around town. Sookie Stackhouse did the same. She returned back to work at Merlotte’s after deciding not to pursue a relationship with either Bill or Eric and hadn’t had much contact with vampires since save for Jessica. The redheaded vampire was engaged in a relationship with her brother Jason and so far the two seemed very happy.

After spending the day working at Merlotte’s, Sookie settled in for New Year’s Eve and made dinner for herself before curling up with a good book on the couch in front of the fire. Snow fell outside her window in soft furls prepared to give the New Year a chilly greeting. At around 8pm, just a half hour after settling in for the night, movement outside of Sookie’s living room window attracted her attention. A tiny hooded figure was tromping out in the snow wearing a coat; boots and what looked to be a little backpack. Startled Sookie rose from the sofa and crossed to the door, putting on her coat as she did so.

“Hello?” She called to the figure as she stepped out onto the porch. It stopped and focused on her but it was still too far away for her to tell if the person was a girl or boy and how old they were. Though judging from their height, Sookie suspected she was dealing with a young child. “It’s awfully cold out here to be by yourself.”

Seconds later, the figure was standing in front of the porch looking up at Sookie and in the light of the area Sookie could see clearly now that the figure was a little girl and she was a vampire.

“What brings you out here tonight?” Sookie asked cautiously as the little girl removed her grey and gold plaid winter coat. She recognized the pattern as designer as she hung it up and noticed with the coat off that the child had long blonde hair the color of honey with light blue eyes and was just over three feet tall.

“Nothing,” The little girl said with a shrug holding her pink star studded backpack close.

Sookie softened kneeling down so they were at eye level, “What’s your name?” “Aria,” The child replied cautiously.

“My name is Sookie,” Sookie replied in return. “If you’re looking for King Bill, he’s just next door.”

“I’m not,” the child said simply fidgeting with a button on the beige long sleeved military-style dress with plaid detailing that was similar in design to the coat only the plaid color was different. So that meant someone had to care about her and who would miss her if she was gone. Aria couldn’t have been more than 4 years-old when she became a vampire.

“A maker then?”

Aria sighed dramatically, “If you must know Sookie, I am running away.”

Sookie fought back the urge to smirk, “Why are you running away Aria?”

The child broke eye contact with her then, looking almost ashamed to be admitting this, “My mommy and my daddy don’t live together anymore,” She said quietly.

“They don’t?” Sookie asked, surprised that there was such a thing as vampire divorce not to mention child vampires.

Aria shook her head, “No. My daddy is mad at my mommy because she did something bad. All they do is fight and they never used to. A few weeks ago daddy started staying at Fangtasia and stopped coming home.”

Sookie’s heart started to thud inside of her chest, “Your father works at Fangtasia?”

“No, he owns it.”

Suddenly it all made sense.  
~*~*~

Ten minutes later, Sookie entered the kitchen after settling Aria in front of the television to watch a copy of Finding Nemo that had been in her bag and dialed Fangtasia.

“Fangtasia,” Chow said on the other side of the line.

“Chow, this is Sookie Stackhouse. Are Pam and Eric there?”

“Pam is off tonight and Eric is busy right now,” He replied. “Can I take a message?”

“Did he lose someone?” She asked in reply and heard Chow hesitate. “Listen Chow, tell Eric Aria is at my house and while you’re at it, you might want to call Pam.”

“Got it,” He said. “I’ll let them know right away.”

“Thanks.”

Sookie disconnected the call and when she returned to the living room she was glad to see Aria seemed to be enjoying the movie. As she joined Aria on the sofa, she noticed the little girl hugging a bear to her chest. It had a little pink bow on its head and a cream colored blanket for a body with soft brown hands and feet. Like the kind one might put into a crib with a baby to comfort them. Her security object more than likely. Watching Aria, Sookie was still in a state of disbelief that Pam and Eric had a child together. Though she wasn’t sure Pam was the child’s mother all signs pointed to it from her looks to her state of dress. And that meant Aria was somehow biologically related to them.

A sense of guilt pervaded Sookie’s conscience at the thought of Eric being in this house earlier in the fall while his daughter was without him. While Eric had needed her help at the time, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat responsible for what he had done to his family since his memory came back. She had suspected after she decided not to pursue a relationship with Eric that the vampire Viking would brood. But to know that Pam and Eric were fighting because of her, even if it was indirectly, made Sookie feel bad especially since it seemed to be affecting a little girl. 

Before Sookie could think any more on the topic however someone knocked at the door. Rising from the sofa, she went to answer it. When she opened it, she found Pam standing on the front porch looking slightly annoyed and slightly bored. However she did look chic as always. Tonight she wore a white leather trench coat with two black buttons to a row down the front belted at the waist over black slacks. She wore black boots and gloves that matched her coat.

“Hello Sookie,” Pam said stiffly, this being the last place she wanted to be. “Chow called and said you have something of mine?”

“Hi Pam,” Sookie said in reply. “Yes I do. She’s in the living room. Come in.”

Pam stepped inside, “I hope Aria hasn’t caused you more trouble than she’s already in.”

“Not at all. She’s been good,” Sookie reassured her. “I have her watching Finding Nemo in the living room”

At the mention of the Disney/Pixar film Pam flinched just slightly. Even though Aria was a vampire, she was still a child and children were prone to phases. Aria’s latest was watching Finding Nemo. She had watched it over 1000 times in the past year and every time Pam or Eric would try to rid the house of it, Aria would just order another copy from Amazon.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Pam asked arching an eyebrow as she removed her gloves. “It’s her movie of the moment unfortunately.”

“Aria mentioned some things to me Pam,” Sookie said cautiously. “She thinks it’s her fault that you and Eric don’t live together anymore.”

The vampire stiffened when the blonde mentioned the one thing she had been working to keep private. Eric had been a miserable prick towards her ever since the night at Moon Goddess. They had been fighting more than she could remember in recent memory with quite a bit happening in front of Aria. Pam had been relieved at first when Eric left. As much as the fighting hurt her to begin with, it was happening so much that his leaving became a welcome reprieve. But when Eric did finally choose to leave, Pam knew it crushed their daughter.

Eric spent a lot of time at this house in the past year. Pam could see his touches everywhere she looked in the foyer in the places where he had repaired what had been damaged by the manaed. If Pam were to be completely honest with herself, Eric had begun to pull away from them after Sookie disappeared. He started to miss putting Aria down for naps and then he wouldn’t come home at dawn to help put her to ground. Those small little things started adding up and now Aria threw tantrums whenever it was “Eric’s time” with her. The part time nanny they had employed most recently had to accompany Aria just to keep the peace.  
Pam suspected that Aria had glamoured the nanny shortly after she’d left. The kid couldn’t feed off a human without killing them. But she could glamour one in a heartbeat. Given the time right now, Pam could only imagine where Eric could be and with whom.

“Of course she does,” Pam replied with her arms crossed over her chest. “Her daddy hasn’t been around much in the past year thanks to this place. And since you bruised his big Viking ego with your decision, he’s taken it out on us. She held her hand up as Sookie opened her mouth to speak, “Don’t apologize. I’m fine. After a century I’m used to Eric’s moods. Aria however is a different story.”

Sookie nodded, “Is there anything I can do?” She asked genuinely concerned.

Pam almost retorted with something scathing but stopped herself. Sookie had some part in this but the brunt of the situation had been caused by Eric. And she had found the baby, calling Fangtasia immediately to say Aria was safe.

“Give Eric a kick in the ass,” She said dryly before moving into the living room. The baby vampire saw her almost immediately, turning at the sound her heels made on the wood floor.

“Hi mommy,” She said quietly.

“Hello Houdini,” Pam replied relieved to see Aria was unhurt. She had left the child in the nanny’s care for 20 minutes and had gone to feed and take care of a few personal needs. Eric had promised to pick Aria up at 7:30pm. It was now 10:45pm and she could only guess why Eric never showed. “You were supposed to stay put missy,” Pam chided lightly as she sat down and turned off the movie. She couldn’t think with the insipid fish talking.

Aria didn’t say anything at first instead opting to cuddle with her bear. She knew what she had done was wrong. But now that Eric was staying at Fangtasia and not at home, Aria felt like it was her fault. Throughout the past year while he was working on this house he had asked her to come with him. But she refused his offer every single time. Since then he missed their time together more and more often. Tonight he didn’t come at all.

“It’s my fault daddy left,” Aria said finally. Her lower lip quivered and she worked to control it, holding her bear tightly against her.

If Pam had a working heart, she was sure it would have broken then. She had never wanted children or anything to do with them for that matter. But Aria was her child and if there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was Aria in pain. She lifted the child gently and placed her on her lap, kissing the top of her head.

“No it’s not,” Pam said in a quiet but firm tone in Aria’s ear. “Daddy left for a lot of reasons. But none of them had to do with you. Understand peanut?”

Aria nodded, “I understand.”

Pam squeezed her lightly not realizing how scared she had felt until this moment. Between living in a “Post-Russell Edgington” world and the witches this year, Aria doing things like this was hard on her. “If you have a problem, you come to me ok? Don’t run away. ”

“Ok.”

Before Pam could say another word, there was another knock on the door. She knew almost instantly it was Eric, feeling his presence through their bond. But she stayed exactly where she was and held her daughter tighter. Let Sookie handle this one seeing as Eric was besotted by her. Now that she had met Aria, maybe she could get a point through Eric’s thick Viking skull.  
Sookie was sitting in the kitchen when the knock came trying to give the two vampires their privacy. She still couldn’t believe Pam and Eric had a child together and had managed to hide it so well. They weren’t at all paternal in Sookie’s point of view. Crossing to the door, she opened it to find Eric on the other side. He looked calm and cool as always, but Sookie could see worry and concern in his eyes.

“Hi Eric,” Sookie said.

“Hello Sookie,” He said briefly. “Chow told me Aria is here?”

“Yes she is,” Sookie replied. “She’s fine though,” She said added quickly. “Come in.”

Eric stepped inside and Sookie led him to the living room. His expression hardened visibly when he saw Pam sitting on the sofa with the little girl on her lap. His reaction threw Sookie for the briefest of moments. She had never seen Eric regard Pam like that. They always seemed to have a good relationship.

“Pam,” He said coldly as he approached them.

“Eric,” Pam replied flatly. She could smell the scent of human on him and knew Aria would smell it too. The baby vampire had been getting fed by her parents for several decades now due to the extremely high body count she tended to rack up. Being the youngest baby vampire in existence, born and not made, she seemed much more content with the arrangement. The one thing she hated was the smell of human on them. Aria didn’t know about their sexual conquests of course. But she found the smell of human distracting when she was trying to eat or snuggle. As a result, Pam made it a point to stay clear of Aria until she had a shower. And usually so did Eric. But tonight he had clearly forgotten.

Eric’s tall frame folded into a crouched position so that he was at eye level with Aria. Her little nose crinkled almost immediately, “Du luktar människa!” (You smell like human) Aria said her voice taking on an accusatory tone.

Pam fought the urge to smirk. Normally she would have said something but given Eric’s demeanor lately it would have caused more sniping between them and she knew the fighting had been one of the reasons Aria had taken off. She did however take great satisfaction in watching Eric realize his mistake.

“Jag är ledsen,” (I’m sorry) Eric said silently cursing himself. He had meant to take a shower before he left and the phone call from Chow had made him forget it. “Förlåt mig?” (Forgive me?) He asked giving his daughter his most hopeful expression. Any woman in the world would have done it. Aria, however, was a harder sell.

“Nej, det gör jag inte. Du gillar att umgås med människor mer än mig.” (No, I won’t. You like spending more time with humans than me.) Aria replied looking at him not amused.

The last statement took Eric aback. Of all the things he had expected his daughter to say it wasn’t that. She had never said anything like it before, most likely because he had never given her any reason to believe otherwise; until now.

“Aria,” he said switching back to English forcing his tone to remain calm. “I want to spend time with you.”

“You smell like human daddy,” Aria repeated crossing her arms so she was squeezing her bear tightly. “And you’re never there when I need you…..you fight with mommy all the time and you make her cry. You’re not my daddy,” She finished, unavoidable tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She shook her head furiously trying to make them stop. 

“Nice one,” Pam said, shooting Eric a dirty look. “I know fairy princess over there has you distracted. But you should know by now not to pull this shit when she needs a nap.”

Sookie grabbed a box of Kleenex from the bathroom when she realized Aria was crying and went over to the couch, handing them to Pam. “Here.”

“Thank you,” Pam said quietly taking it and dabbing at her daughter’s eyes with it while whispering soothing words to the baby vampire to calm her.

Eric rose from his position with a mix of helplessness and agitation on his face. Pam reached into Aria’s bag and pulled out a glass baby bottle of blood; hers and Eric’s to be exact. She thrust the cold container in 

Eric’s direction, “Go heat this,” She said and Eric did as he was directed. In times like these Pam was in charge. Her bond with Aria had always been much stronger and in this case their daughter had made it clear that Eric was not her favorite person at the moment.

Sookie followed him partly fascinated by what she saw and partly worried for Eric and his family, “Of all the things I thought you were, I never imagined this,” She said leaning against the doorframe.

The ghost of a smile passed over Eric’s lips as he unscrewed the top of the bottle and placed it in the microwave, “My being a father surprises you that much?” He inquired.

“Yes. You don’t seem like the parental type,” She said honestly.

Eric set the timer and turned the microwave on before turning to face Sookie, “Because I wasn’t in the human sense of the term until Aria.”

“So she is yours then? Yours and Pam’s?”

A small but proud smile formed on Eric’s face, “Yes. Our own little secret.”

“She certainly is,” Sookie conceded. “But with everything that’s happened in the last year, I’m surprised I haven’t seen Aria at least once.”

The microwave pinged and Eric turned to gingerly remove the bottled blood from it.

“Aria has grown up in hiding. Pam and I felt that it would be best to keep it that way, particularly because Aria is young and therefore more vulnerable.”

“Are their other little vampires?”

“There are. But I’ve never seen any Aria’s age. The ones I have seen are older and they will never say what they truly are.”

“So those with children hide it?”

“Yes, for safety concerns. Not unlike this one,” He replied holding up the bottle before putting the top on again.

“I take it that isn’t standard procedure?”

Eric’s eye sparkled with mirth, “No. But Aria is quite content with the arrangements.”

While Eric heated up the bottle of blood, Pam was relieved to find Aria had brought her favorite pink baby Alpaca blanket with her. She gently draped it over Aria and wrapped her in it before cradling the little girl to her chest. She ran her fingers through the long strands of fine blonde hair on the little girl’s head lost in thought. The state of Eric and Aria’s relationship was just beginning to sink in now. Pam didn’t want to be concerned about it. But she was. No matter what happened Aria needed both of them and they needed her. She had strengthened their bond beyond simply maker and child. And no one, not even a part fairy should have been able to splinter it.

Eric returned a few moments later with the blood pulling Pam from her thoughts, the sound of his footsteps across the wooden floor bringing her attention back to the present. He held the warmed blood out to her and she accepted without a word. She turned Aria onto her back resting the little girl’s head on the crook of her arm and offered her the blood. The little girl began to drink greedily, corner of Pam’s mouth quirked upward satisfied to see her daughter feeding with such vigor. 

Eric sat down beside them quietly watching Pam feed her the bottle. Acutely aware he was watching, Pam waited until Aria was relaxed and then gently placed the little girl in his lap. Mildly surprised, Eric held Aria’s bottle steady and cradled her close. She let him so focused on eating that any attempt to resist was promptly forgotten. Within minutes Aria was almost done with the blood and her eyes grew heavy. As if he had never been absent at all, Eric reached into the little backpack sitting between him and Pam and rooted around in it until he found a clean pacifier. Removing the bottle from Aria’s mouth, he replaced it with the pacifier and she sighed contently. 

He watched with a never ending element of amazement. While she was most certainly a vampire, Aria could nap like any other human child. It was one of those strange eccentricities that he had come to associate with born baby vampires. After he realized he was staring at their daughter, Eric looked up to see Pam checking her phone. But the corner of her mouth was slightly quirked. She’d seen him staring which meant she had been staring at Aria too. Before this year he and Pam used to laugh about that disgustingly human habit they had picked up of staring at their offspring in such undo amazement. And yet they had never stopped. Eric looked down and found Aria had fallen asleep.

“I’ll take Aria out to the car,” He murmured quietly.

Pam nodded and Sookie, who had watched the entire exchange, went to fetch Aria’s coat. She noticed when she did that the little girl’s name was embroidered in white across the top of the tag. She smiled softly. Aria was cared about. Eric gingerly eased the sleeping child into her coat when Sookie handed it back. Then he held her close and stood folding her blanket over his free arm.

“Good night Eric,” Sookie said as he rounded the couch and went toward the door.

“Good night,” He said turning to face her. It looked like Eric wanted to say more but thought better of it. He left the house a moment later moving faster than Sookie’s eyes could process the movement.

Pam meanwhile had begun to pack up Aria's things and when Sookie turned and saw her there she quietly went to the DVD player and ejected the DVD from the player. Pam took the DVD when it was offered and reluctantly placed it in the bag.

"Aria seems like a very sweet girl," Sookie said meaning it.

"She is," Pam replied almost automatically. When she was done gathering up Aria's things, Pam rose. "Thank you Sookie for keeping Aria safe." While her tone was cool and flat, she meant it. Things with Eric aside, the fact that Sookie kept her daughter out of trouble hadn't gone unnoticed by her. Being the mother of the youngest natural vampire she had ever encountered, Pam knew all too well the dangers Aria could face if her true nature were discovered. Baby vampire blood was potent and rare which meant Aria's could fetch very high prices.

"You're welcome Pam. I'm glad I could help."

Eric was sitting in the driver's seat of white Porche Cayenne when Pam emerged from the house. She got in the passenger's side and tossed the starred backpack in the back before checking on Aria. Eric had turned the car seat so it faced the rear instead of forward and strapped the little girl in. She was resting comfortably with the blanket draped over her without a care in the world. Satisfied Pam turned back and faced the front.

"Drive," She said simply.

And Eric did. The 30 minute trip back to Shreveport was conducted in silence. Pam had many things to say to her maker but she refrained until they were safely home. They lived on a quiet, dead end street in a gated home at the end of the street. Eric used an application on his phone to open the gate as they approached. The heavy iron gates parted and he drove through.

The car proceeded through curving to the right almost immediately to follow the driveway’s path. It was lined with tall trees that shielded the house from outside view. After only a few moments of driving, the massive white two story home came into view with a large but well-manicured garden in front of it. Just behind it an offshoot of the driveway curved to the left leading to a covered cobblestone paved entrance where visitors could leave their car and proceed right up the stairs and to the front porch. But the car continued driving up the driveway past the front of the house, its headlights reflecting off the large windows closest to that side of the drive as it went by. When it reached the back of the house, the car turned and pulled into a four stall garage next to a dark blue Maserati Gran Sport Spyder, a black Astin Martin Vantage, and a silver BMW M3. The engine of the Porche turned off and both vampires got out. 

Pam opened the back passenger door and retrieved her child and the backpack, lifting the former into her arms slowly and closed the door. Eric proceeded to lock the car with the push of a button and walked towards the back door while Pam swung a metallic auburn leather hobo bag onto her shoulder. He opened the door and then swiftly entered an alarm code on the console just inside the door. Mother and child followed him inside. The system screen acknowledged their entry and rearmed itself. Eric and Pam turned right and crossed the dark kitchen and past the large island and sub-zero refrigerator. On the opposite side was another smaller refrigerator, stove, and microwave that was used by their small day staff of people who kept the house clean, maintained, and who did day errands for their vampire occupants. They made another right just before the sink and cabinet space to ascend the stairs to the second floor. Making a left, they walked jointly toward the back of the house until reaching the master suite.

Pam set her bag on a crème leather chair in the sitting area in front of the fireplace along with Aria's backpack. Then she crossed to the California king bed dressed in high cotton thread count white linens before placing Aria on it. Together the vampire parents removed her boots and coat. Once she was settled, Eric went to go see to Aria's nanny. While he was gone Pam slipped into a velour track suit in black not planning to go anywhere else tonight.  
After she lay on her side of the bed and took Aria carefully into her arms once more resting the child against her chest. Sensing her mother’s presence, Aria snuggled into her causing one corner of Pam’s mouth to quirk slightly. It was moments like these that made her grateful for the way her life had preceded. While she loathed children, having Aria enriched her life as a vampire. That wasn’t to say there were never days when she wanted to leave Aria somewhere because she could be irritating. But 99% of the time, she was the best vampire Pam and Eric could have asked for born or turned. And Pam very happily told every vampire she met if they gave her lip about the way Aria was treated.

Although Pam would never admit it publicly, she was also happy to have Aria back in her arms safe and sound. It had only been a few hours but it would have only taken one astute human to realize Aria wasn’t human and in this climate they couldn’t take the chance.

Pam broke from her reverie when Eric returned to the room, “Maia is fine, just glamoured. I sent her home.”

“Good,” Pam nodded thankful that Aria hadn’t killed yet another nanny especially under the circumstances. “Are you staying?”

“I was considering it especially after what Aria said.”

“The fighting needs to stop Eric. You can be mad at me for as long as you want but our daughter shouldn’t feel like any of this is her fault.”

“You’re right,” he said simply. When it came to Aria he did listen and whatever he felt prior to tonight, he had put it aside. To hear Aria say that he had neglected her and made Pam cry was painful on its own. But to add that he wasn’t the father Aria knew hurt very deeply. “I’m staying.”

“So” Pam asked as Eric joined them on the bed, “Where were you tonight?”

Eric smiled softly. There was a slightly sheepish quality to it, “I was on the phone with Anubis Air,” He explained. The airline had been closed for the last three days due to an influx of snow. “I convinced them to fly us to Stockholm tomorrow night.”

Pam raised an eyebrow, “For how long?”

“As long as you want. The bar will be fine. I’ve already taken care of it with the staff.”

Going back to Sweden as a family meant Eric did want to try to make things work. They became a family when Aria was born there in 1906 and they all considered it home even though they were only there a few times a year.

“And the fairy princess?”

“Sookie will manage without me. Will you go?” He asked anticipating the answer.

After a moment, Pam nodded. “Let’s go home.”

The End


End file.
